Alright, so here goes. My first review on a live local performance.
Just to give you a heads up, Groove Chutney are a fairly new band, consisting of Nitin Kumar on drums, Abhishek Prakash on guitars, and Mrinal Mantravadi on bass/vocals. Having met at their college Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, and with the added frustration of only Bollywood music all around them, the guys met up once to jam in their college, and their grooves almost immediately fell into place.
When I heard about this band initially, I was honestly a little taken aback to see 3 people with such varied interests come together. From the little I know, Abhishek is a complete blues freak and geek, and Nitin's older band Nevermind has a mix of classical/thrash influences on varied scales, such as Phrygian/Byzantine etc (Bear with me if I'm wrong here!). Mrinal and I go way back, and we used to also be part of a brutal death band Macabre Intent (shameless self promotion). But, their love for music got them to arrive at a common genre - Classic/Blues rock, with a bit extra chutney! - as they would like to call it.
The band was just getting their gear up as I entered, and started with a short soundcheck soon after. Nice to see that they had set up the levels much before the show, and not keep us waiting.
They dived into their setlist with an OC - Unhinged, starting off with a bluesy 4 by 7 (I think) beat riff. The song was a nice, groovy track, till Abhishek took over the leads. You'd think it went bad by the way I said it, but the song just went 3 notches up. Near to flawless, with exact placement of the intermediate notes, and the stage antics that reminded me a lot of Jimmy Page, it was purely a treat to watch Abhishek play there.
Next up was an OC again, called Blue Magic. I honestly don't recall too much about this song, but being a guitarist myself, I tend to remember the good guitar sections. Good music, good food, and all was jolly when we were hit by a freak psychedelic sound that sounded an awful lot like the one in the Comfortably Numb solo. The band did a great job by incorporating such a solo sound into this song, and ending it with a neat drum piece as well.
Sin Seller Woman was next, another OC which was written by their drummer, Nitin.
A whole bunch of covers followed - Muddy Water's Hoochie Coochie Man simply took me back to the 70's. Their next was a truly today's cover of Outside Woman Blues, by Cream. The modifications in the drums, the additional guitar notes, and the added grunge to the vocals gave the song a wholesome feeling.
Fortunate Son, by Creedence Clearwater Revival, was fairly straightforward, and a nice listen.
The Groove Lives On! was their last track, with their grooves flying all over the bar. Catchy riff, and the first time I'm hearing harmonics between the bass and guitars, which gave it a unique feel. Nice use of the ride as well.
And here's maybe the slight criticism coming your way -
1) Drums - The drums were tight every song, no doubt that. Really awesome that the songs continued on, in spite of the sticks breaking twice! Very good bursts of double bass on the single bass pedal. But a couple of ghost notes in between would really help a lot - for eg, the start riff of the song The Groove Lives On!. Also, more usage of the toms/floor tom would've helped during the drum solo in Blue Magic.
2) Bass/Vocals - Ok, I'm not gonna be harsh here cause it IS hard to play bass and sing. But a small essense of the song is lost when either are not fully satisfied. Really good and tight as hell, especially for a guy who used to play guitar initially and has only a short experience in bass playing, but more slaps/pops and varied bass tones would add the additional kick. The vocals were really good in the covers, but could've been a little stronger in some of the OCs.
3) Guitars - This was the highlight of Sunday's show. The screams that went out the entire floor during the solos - 'nuff said! Great tones, great effects, great finger techniques - amongst these were probably a couple of tips that some veterans could also use. Additional open harmonics in the riffs - thats something I would probably look forward to as a variation in your next songs. Backing vocals would too give a nice complete finish.
These guys are good no doubt. Hats off to their composing skills. With a bit more tweaking (that always comes with time), I'd really like to see what more they're capable of.
To catch more of Groove Chutney, you can find them at
www.reverbnation.com/groovechutney
For more Facebook updates, find them and like them at
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Groove-Chutney/138049682933092
And here are a couple of Youtube videos as well
Just to give you a heads up, Groove Chutney are a fairly new band, consisting of Nitin Kumar on drums, Abhishek Prakash on guitars, and Mrinal Mantravadi on bass/vocals. Having met at their college Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, and with the added frustration of only Bollywood music all around them, the guys met up once to jam in their college, and their grooves almost immediately fell into place.When I heard about this band initially, I was honestly a little taken aback to see 3 people with such varied interests come together. From the little I know, Abhishek is a complete blues freak and geek, and Nitin's older band Nevermind has a mix of classical/thrash influences on varied scales, such as Phrygian/Byzantine etc (Bear with me if I'm wrong here!). Mrinal and I go way back, and we used to also be part of a brutal death band Macabre Intent (shameless self promotion). But, their love for music got them to arrive at a common genre - Classic/Blues rock, with a bit extra chutney! - as they would like to call it.
The band was just getting their gear up as I entered, and started with a short soundcheck soon after. Nice to see that they had set up the levels much before the show, and not keep us waiting.They dived into their setlist with an OC - Unhinged, starting off with a bluesy 4 by 7 (I think) beat riff. The song was a nice, groovy track, till Abhishek took over the leads. You'd think it went bad by the way I said it, but the song just went 3 notches up. Near to flawless, with exact placement of the intermediate notes, and the stage antics that reminded me a lot of Jimmy Page, it was purely a treat to watch Abhishek play there.
Next up was an OC again, called Blue Magic. I honestly don't recall too much about this song, but being a guitarist myself, I tend to remember the good guitar sections. Good music, good food, and all was jolly when we were hit by a freak psychedelic sound that sounded an awful lot like the one in the Comfortably Numb solo. The band did a great job by incorporating such a solo sound into this song, and ending it with a neat drum piece as well.
Sin Seller Woman was next, another OC which was written by their drummer, Nitin.
A whole bunch of covers followed - Muddy Water's Hoochie Coochie Man simply took me back to the 70's. Their next was a truly today's cover of Outside Woman Blues, by Cream. The modifications in the drums, the additional guitar notes, and the added grunge to the vocals gave the song a wholesome feeling.
Fortunate Son, by Creedence Clearwater Revival, was fairly straightforward, and a nice listen.
The Groove Lives On! was their last track, with their grooves flying all over the bar. Catchy riff, and the first time I'm hearing harmonics between the bass and guitars, which gave it a unique feel. Nice use of the ride as well.
And here's maybe the slight criticism coming your way -
1) Drums - The drums were tight every song, no doubt that. Really awesome that the songs continued on, in spite of the sticks breaking twice! Very good bursts of double bass on the single bass pedal. But a couple of ghost notes in between would really help a lot - for eg, the start riff of the song The Groove Lives On!. Also, more usage of the toms/floor tom would've helped during the drum solo in Blue Magic.
2) Bass/Vocals - Ok, I'm not gonna be harsh here cause it IS hard to play bass and sing. But a small essense of the song is lost when either are not fully satisfied. Really good and tight as hell, especially for a guy who used to play guitar initially and has only a short experience in bass playing, but more slaps/pops and varied bass tones would add the additional kick. The vocals were really good in the covers, but could've been a little stronger in some of the OCs.
3) Guitars - This was the highlight of Sunday's show. The screams that went out the entire floor during the solos - 'nuff said! Great tones, great effects, great finger techniques - amongst these were probably a couple of tips that some veterans could also use. Additional open harmonics in the riffs - thats something I would probably look forward to as a variation in your next songs. Backing vocals would too give a nice complete finish.
To catch more of Groove Chutney, you can find them at
www.reverbnation.com/groovechutney
For more Facebook updates, find them and like them at
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Groove-Chutney/138049682933092
And here are a couple of Youtube videos as well
Note : All photos taken from WhatstheSceneIndia's page on Facebook.
Thats quite a nice review, and a nice cover of Outside Woman Blues as well.. I'd like to see these guys live sometime
ReplyDelete--Jason